Fausto Pichardo became the first officer of Dominican heritage to be promoted to a two-star chief with the New York Police Department (NYPD), reports Gregg McQueen in Manhattan Times.

Pichardo, 40, is a 19-year veteran of the NYPD. He was promoted to be executive officer for the Patrol Services Bureau during a ceremony at NYPD headquarters on Jan. 18, and on Jan. 23 his elevation was celebrated at Coogan’s Restaurant in Upper Manhattan, where Rep. Adriano Espaillat and NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill were in attendance.

Commissioner O’Neill said Pichardo’s promotion was a “special day” for the NYPD.

“He’s a great cop, but more importantly, he’s a great human being,” he said.

O’Neill joked that Espaillat pestered him “about five million times” about promoting a Dominican officer to Chief. He then recalled his first interaction with Pichardo, about a decade ago on a call dealing with a distressed woman with three children in an apartment building.

“His compassion, the way he kept calm, the way he talked to her, the way he talked to the police officers, I knew he was a future leader in the NYPD,” O’Neill said.

Also in attendance were new NYPD Chief of Patrol Terence Monahan, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, City Council members Ydanis Rodríguez, Vanessa Gibson and Rubén Díaz Sr., and City Comptroller Scott Stringer. Pichardo has ties to Northern Manhattan and the Bronx.

Go to Manhattan Times to learn how the two-star chief reacted to support he’s received from the Dominican community.

As the White House urged Congress to withhold $600 million in nutrition assistance to Puerto Rico, officials responded angrily that this is only the latest in a series of President Trump’s attempts to stop the flow of federal aid to the island, El Nuevo Día reports. Political analyst Domingo Emanuelli found the Trump government's actions “barbaric,” and urged Puerto Rican Republicans to reconsider their allegiance. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said: “I shouted against Trump’s abuses from the start while others were chummy with him. Trump is not the plantation owner and we are not his slaves.” Link to original story →

The Indigenous Peoples March being held in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 18, a day ahead of the Women's March, will bring together groups from Puerto Rico to South America and Central America, reports Remezcla, to focus attention on issues from voter suppression to human trafficking to police brutality to what is called an “environmental holocaust” by activists. “I think it’s a collective cry for help because we’re in a time of crisis that we have not seen in a very long time,” says Nathalie Farfan, an Ecuadorean Indigenous woman and event organizer. Link to original story →

After vowing to create a more inclusive school system in North Carolina, the Durham Board of Education introduced a new department of second language services to serve newly-arrived immigrants who don’t speak English as a first language, Qué Pasa Noticias reports. One of the main goals of the initiative will be to coordinate a translation and interpretation system to help families participate in their children’s education. “As our Latinx population keeps growing we keep opening our schools’ doors to those arriving from all over the world,” said Superintendent Pascal Mubenga. Link to original story →

With Sen. Kamala Harris expected to announce her decision on a presidential run, The American Bazaar asks members of the Indian-American community about the potential candidacy of the California native. While some celebrated the possibility of Harris, who is of Jamaican-Indian descent, running amid the current political atmosphere, others say the country is "still not ready for a female president and certainly not a non-white." Link to original story →